Agriculture

Analysis:
This bill raises the amount of gross sales a cottage food operation may generate before being subject to food establishment fees and authorizes them to advertise over the internet. Businesses should not be subject to arbitrary government sales caps, especially ones that incentivize making less money. Raising the cap from $20,000 to $35,000 is a step in the right direction, however, government caps on how successful a business is allowed to be before government retribution is levied denigrates the freedom of our market and effectively caps our economic potential.

'Mississippi Seafood Marketing Law of 2020'; enact to require consumer notice and labeling of country of origin on all foreign and imported seafood.

Alive

Analysis:
This bill provides for needless government overregulation on a market that is already sufficiently regulated by the FDA. This legislation also authorizes the state government to enter the premises of seafood distributors without any court action and forcibly seize their products for the purposes of testing; all of this in the name of ensuring proper labeling that is already required by the Food and Drug Administration. This legislation provides yet another way for the state government to waste taxpayer dollars in the faux pursuit of "consumer protection".

Goat milk and goat milk products; remove from regulatory authority of the State Board/Department of Health.

Dead

Analysis:
This bill removes an explicit legal right to produce and sell goat's milk. Regulating the specific kinds of milk that citizens are allowed to consume or sell is not a legitimate function of government and is not a useful way to expend our tax dollars.

Analysis:
This bill extends the deadline at which the Mississippi Boll Weevil Corporation must submit their audit to the Department of Agriculture and Commerce. The deadline was previously set for November 15, 2019, it is now set at November 15, 2022.

Analysis:
Under current state law The Mississippi Development Authority is authorized to give loans to agribusiness or greenhouse production horticulture enterprises up to the amount of $200,000. This bill increases that maximum loan amount to $250,000. Currently the MDA is also authorized to issue bonds to the Emerging Crops Fund in an amount up to $109 Million. This bill increases that maximum to $114 Million. The state of Mississippi is in no financial state to be increasing the maximum amount of loans the states can issue to any business or organization.

Analysis:
This bill increases the authority and scope of the Department of Agriculture and Commerce, giving the department power to hire more employees, enter into contracts, and allocate and expend funds to carry out
all the powers and duties mentioned in the act. This is an increase in the size of government that is unnecessary and costly.

Analysis:
This bill legalizes the cultivation, transportation, processing and handling of hemp. Although this legalization come with heavy regulation, the legalization of hemp ultimately makes our markets and people freer and more prosperous.